


muscle memory

by guttersvoice



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: M/M, Past Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-06-06
Packaged: 2018-07-12 18:35:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7117846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/guttersvoice/pseuds/guttersvoice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>a thief has to be good at observing. some spirits have closer connections to their memories than others.</p>
            </blockquote>





	muscle memory

**Author's Note:**

> this was gonna be longer but i got embarrassed

when the pharaoh moves, all the gold hanging from his wrists and his throat and his hips clinks.

this hasn’t changed. even if its taken a while to get that host body to wear so much jewellery, it’s the same sound now. he draws a card and the sound of metal hitting metal is too-familiar. like an echo, but close and real. louder than expected even in a crowded room.

the pharaoh claims not to remember a thing, but there’s clear imprints of who he is left on his soul, and it’s almost embarrassing that the thief is the only one who recognises that.

the thief isn’t sure which one of them it’s embarrassing for, though.

it watches from behind an innocent boy’s eyes and tries not to laugh as the pharaoh’s host tells his friends that he’d felt like a change of image, as if the source of the change wasn’t obvious. it bites the landlord’s lip when it sees the carefully applied kohl, the same as it was then.

the left eye a smudge thicker than the right, so the thief knows that the pharaoh did it for the boy. for himself, more like. the thief knows how to make itself feel at home, too. recognises it. recognises him.

exactly the same as he was, but he doesn’t remember why the thief is full of cold anger and sticky black revenge

sometimes it isn’t sure if that’s its own revenge, or something worse. that’s okay though. something inside them always lets it know that that’s okay

the boy sits up straighter, stops curling in on himself, and everyone else can see the pharaoh now. everyone notices him and recognises him, not just the thief who has known him longest. it would be jealous if it let itself care. if it accidentally tenses its host’s shoulders when the pharaoh’s glance lingers on it for a moment, it doesn’t mean it cares.

if it’s tugging strips of flesh from dry lips that aren’t really its own as the pharaoh tucks a strand of hair behind his ear and in so doing accidentally lets more fall across his cheek, just as he used to, just as the thief watched him do so many times, it doesn’t mean it cares.

it just 

it wants to know what the pharaoh does remember

even just muscle memory and instinct. beyond that innate understanding of games and shadow magic. he applies eyeliner like he did; he holds himself like he did and smiles like he did and moves his hands like he did

does he kiss like he did?


End file.
